Driving wheel center



y 9 1934! A. WENTEMBERG 196M039? DRIVING WHEEL-CENTER Filed May 27, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I -i72 flde/berfa new 2/ Aim/72g? May 22,, 134 A. c. 'WINTEMBERG DRVIVVING WHEEL CENTER Filed May. 27, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 W Af/omqy May 22, 1934. I A. WINTEMBERG 60,039

I DRIVING WHEEL CENTER Fi-led May 27, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 E/QQME A. c. WI'NTEM BLERG DRIVING WHEEL CENTER May 22, 1934.

Filed May 27,1932 4 sheets-sheaf 4 Patented May 22, 1934 v I I v UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE,

DRIVING WHEEL onu'rnn Adclbert C. Wintemberg, Drexel Hill, Pa., as-

signor to General Steel Castings Corporation, Granite City, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Application May 27, 1932, Serial No. 613,835 16 Claims. (Cl. 295-6) The invention relates to locomotive driving Figure 16 is a side elevation of another modifiwheel centers and consists in novel features of cation. spoke and counterbalance structure preferably Figures 17 and 18 are transverse sections on the embodied in cast metal. corresponding section lines of Figure .6.

In steel castings it is essential to dispose the The wheel center illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 on metal in a manner to resist damage and deformaincludes a central mass forming a hub l with an tion in the solidified metal due to shrinkage duropening 2 for receiving the wheel axle and proing cooling. Where comparatively thick masses vided with anextension 3 having an opening 4-. of metal are necessary, such as the counterbalfor receiving the crank pin of the driving or conance and hub parts of. a locomotive driver, it is meeting rod (not shown). An annular hollow 5 5 desirable to provide pockets and recesses in the in this central mass extends around the axle rethicker parts of metal, particularly where these ceiving opening 2 and the crank pin receiving masses are intersected by elements of less thickopening 4 to facilitate casting the central mass of ness, such as spokes, to assist in radiation of heat metal.

from the interior so that the connected parts may Hollow spokes 6 extend radially of the central '30 cool evenly. Moreover, because of the great mass and merge with the rim 7 or with the substrength of cast steel, thick sections of metal are stantially solid counterbalance 8. The hollows not necessary in driver construction to safely re- 9 of the spokes communicate with the hollow 5 of sist the loads applied during operation. the central mass and extend through the rim 7 An important object 'of the present invention, a d the counterbalance 8 t0 the Periphery the 75 accordingly, is to construct a locomotive driver device and preferably the hollows extending meeting the above requirements so as to facilitate through the counterbalance are enlarged in 'dimanufacture in cast steel while retaining accurate ameter, as indicated at 10. This arrangement of balance and uniform ruggedness throughout. hollows throughout the structure provides for Another object of. the invention is to dispose bette radiation of heat from the interior of the go the masses of metal present in the device in such solid parts so that the counterbalance, spokes manner that the metal may flow easily when and hub will cool substantially uniformly and poured .into the mold and may cool substantially facilitates the supporting of the cores in' the mold uniformly without setting up undue shrinkage and the cleaning of core sand from the casting.

stresses. Enlargements 10 within the counterbalancefur- Another object is to facilitate the preparation ther decrease the concentration of metal and of the mold and the cleaning of core sand from permit the use of more substantial cores in this the casting. g part of the mold. Openings 11 in the sides of Another object of the .invention is to provide the central mass are produced by the supports for 35 for adjustment of the counterbalance weight. the core and do not affect the strength of the These and other detail objects are attained in structure. The rim 7 is of comparatively thin the Structures m t t t accgmpanying rectangular section and may flex along radial drawings, in which lines to accommodate longitudinal shrinkage of Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wheel center 3 5 12? g othrer fi i 3 4 embodying one form of the invention. 1 ser 1 one mo 9 0 e Doc 5 s o Figures 2 to 6 are transverse sections taken on adlust thewelght of the counterbalance m wtnch the corresponding section lines of Figure 1 case fi of if g g g i at the periphq cry 0 e rim wi pre era y e c osed by a' metal Figure '7 1s a side view of a mod fied form of plug welded in place. v

the invention. A r to a F r sections on the in tiel i ifoiifii i t ill 2152531 15153 =f sectlqn lmes of F .types. Spokes 16 extending 'from the hub to the Flgul'e slde elevatlon of one'ha'lf of .,-counterbalance 1'7 are shorter than spokes 18 exanother modlficatlontending to the rim and may be made substan- Flgllles 12 and 13 are transverse Sections 011 tially narrower than the relatively wide spokes 18. the cfi p i Section lines of Figure Spokes 16 are substantially identical to the coun- Figure 14 corresponds to Figure 11 and illusterbalance spokes of the form previously detrates another modification. scribed with radial hollows extending through the Figure 15 is a transverse section on the line counterbalance. The transverse walls 1901: wide 15l5 of Figure 14. spokes 1%! merge with the inner wall 20 of the hol- I low rim'except that the wall 21 of the wide spoke nearest the counterbalance extends radially of the wheel to the outer periphery thereof, as indicated at 22, instead of merging with the inner edge of the counterbalance. The space 24 at the end of the counterbalance is left open to avoid the formation of a closed pocket diificult to mold and clean and side walls 23 are reinforced by beads 23a. The narrow spokes 16 are more flexible than the wider box section spokes 18 and, ac-

cordingly, more of the torque load from the hub will be carried by the box section spokes.

Figures 11 to 13 illustrate a, counterbalance structure in which'the casting forms a laterally opening pocket 25 adapted to have its opening closed by flat plate 26 which may be welded in place, as indicated at W. Preferably the inner I wall 27 has a flange 28 providing a widened sup- Additional weight material may be inserted in the spoke hollow through the opening in the periphery of the rim and this opening then plugged closed.

The pocket 25 may be filled with any desired material according to the weight necessary to balance the crank pin, connecting rod, etc., and

this material may be changed to accommodate various conditions. I

Figures 14 and 15 illustrate the combination of wide and narrow spokes merging with the counterbalance. Wide spoke 33 is hollow with its hollow portion extending into the counterbalance 34,

i .as indicated at 35. This arrangement provides for a counterbalance having its outer contour symmetrical about a center line which passes through the center of the wheel and the crank pin hub, but which provides for more weight on one side than the other so as to constitute an offset counter alance such as is provided on many wheels to balance the forces applied to the wheel. The hollows of narrow spokes 36extend through'the counterbalance to the periphery of the device.

Figures 16 to 18 illustrate a wheel center-made up of a plurality of wide hollow spokes 40 and 41 and near the periphery of the device spokes 40 are enlarged transversely of the plane of the device to provide pockets 42 having openings 43 in the lateral faces thereof through which lead or other suitable counterbalance forming material may be inserted. Plates 44 may be applied to the openings 43 and welded in place, as indicat ed at W. Preferably the pockets -of two adjacent spokes 40 are interconnected, as indicated at 45, and a spoke extension 46 braces the elongated counterbalance structure. This extension 46 is preferably provided with, a hollow 47'opening through the exterior of the device and through the inner wall 48 of the lateral enlargement of the spoke. a

The details of the driving wheel center may be varied in numerous other ways than those illustrated and described and I contemplate the exelusive use of such features of hollow spoke, rim, hub and counterbalance structure as come within the scope of my claims.

What is claimed is:

1. 'In a locomotive driving wheel center casting, v

receiving opening, a substantially solid metal counterblance spaced from'saicl hub, and hollow spokes extending between said hub and counterbalance, the hollows in said spokes being in communication with the annular hollow in said hub and extending through said counterbalance.

4. In a locomotive driving wheel center casting, a central mass of metal having an opening for receiving an axle and an opening for receiving a crank pin, there being a continuous hollow in said mass surrounding said openings, a substantially solid metal counterbalance, and hollow spokes between said central mass and said counterbalance with the spoke hollows opening into the hollow of said central mass and extending through said counterbalance.

5. In a locomotive driving wheel center casting, a hub, a counterbalance occupying a portion of the periphery of the wheel center, a hollow rim extending around the remainder of the wheel center between the ends of said counterbalance, and hollow spokes between said hub and counterbalance and between said hub and rim, the hollows of said first-mentioned spokes being continued through said counterbalance and the hollows of said second-mentioned spokes opening into the hollow of said rim.

6. In a locomotive driving wheel center, a hollow counterbalance, .and hollow spokes extending inwardly therefrom, the interiors of said counterbalance and spokes communicating with each other and there being a substantial opening from the hollow of said counterbalance to the exterior thereof. v

7. In a locomotive driving wheel center casting, a hub, a hollow counterbalance, and a hollow spoke extending radially of said hub, the wall of said spoke continuing through said counterbalance to the periphery of the device and the spoke hollowbeing enlarged inside said counterbalance to facilitate manufacture.

8. In a locomotive driving wheel center casting, a hub, a rim, a counterbalance extending inwardly from a part of said rim, relatively wide spokes between said hub and the remaining part of said rim and relatively narrow spokes between said hub and counterbalance.

9. A device as specified in claim 8 in which the counterbalance is of substantially solid construction and the narrow spokes have longitudinal hollows continued into the counterbalance to the outer periphery thereof.

10. A device as specified in claim 8 in which the spokes are of hollow formation and the hollows of the narrow spokes are continued through the counterbalance to the outer periphery thereof and the hollows of the widespokes extend throughout the length of the spokes, but terminate with the solid peripheral web of the rim.

11. In a locomotive driving wheel center, a hub, hollow spokes radiating therefrom, the portion of some of said spokes near the periphery of the device being enlarged transversely of the plane of the device to provide chambers for receivingmaterial to form a counterbalance.

12. A locomotive driving wheel center casting comprising a rim with a hollow part, a hollow spoke merging with said rim, and a counterbalance with an extremity on said rim adjacent said spoke and closing an end of the hollow part of said rim, the inner wall of said rim between said spoke and said counterbalance being omitted to form an open pocket and the adjacent wall of said spoke being continued to the periphery of said rim to compensate for said omissiom 13. In a locomotive driving wheel center integral casting, a substantially solid metal counterbalance part and a relatively narrow spoke part merging therewith, there being a restricted opening in said counterbalance part adjacent its intersection with said spoke part to equalize shrinkage stresses during solidification o! the metal.

14. In a driving wheel center, counterbalance structure and a spoke merging with the same and having a hollow portion communicating with a recess in said structure and adapted to receive additional weight material.

15. In a driving wheel center, a rim, counterbalance structure, a hollow spoke extending balance with its hollow interior opening through said rim, the portion of said spoke within said.

counterbalance being adapted to receive additional weight material through said rim open-- ing after said cover has been secured in place.

ADEL'BER-T C. WIHTEMBERG. 

